X Factor rejects FYD have blamed the show's running order for them being given the boot in the first week of live finals.

The group said that being the first act on Saturday's show had counted against them because some viewers missed the early minutes of the show.

The five piece boyband from London - Matthew Lawton, 26, Kalvin Lamey, 25, Alex Murdoch, 22, Ryan-Lee Seager, 22, and Jordan Gabriel, 22 - were left in the bottom three after the public vote.

They were booted off after competing in the sing-off against Katie Waissel, and only their mentor Simon Cowell chose to try to save them.

Ryan-Lee said: "There's a big part in going on first - it would have been about the votes.

"Some people don't tune in for that first part, some people don't tune in until about 8 o'clock and miss the first half an hour."

The band also felt let down by judge Louis Walsh for not choosing to save them and sending the show into "deadlock" - which means elimination would have been down to the act with the fewest public votes.

Matthew said: "It would have been nice if he'd given us a deadlock, and then it would have been an even playing ground and we would have maybe stood a chance of being there for next week."

FYD were the only original group to make it through to the final 12, as rival acts Belle Amie and One Direction were put together by Simon Cowell during boot camp.

They claimed Simon had already decided he wanted boyband One Direction to win the show. Ryan-Lee said: "We reckon One Direction are the people that are going to end up winning and we think that's why we went out."